The visitors were dismissed for 111 on the second day, in reply to Essex’s 227, and the home side closed on 134-2 as they looked to complete an unbeaten campaign.

Left-armer Wagner finished with 3-21, as Porter and Simon Harmer also took three wickets, and said: “The other two have definitely made my job a helluva lot lighter. They bowled really well, exceptionally well.

“In the last couple of games – I haven’t had to bowl many overs. It was more just sitting and watching, admiring what they were doing. On the back of what they have created it’s been pretty awesome.

“It was nice to get a few overs in and get the rhythm ticking and getting the ball to swing a bit which is quite pleasing for me personally.

“The wicket of Adam Lyth was a big one. He’s a good player, a dangerous player, the type of player who can take the game away from you. He is aggressive and comes quite hard, so it was quite pleasing.

“But it was on the back of what the other guys had done. I just came in and got the reward for that. Collectively as a group everyone bowled exceptionally well, as we’ve been doing all season.”

Wagner also deflected the ball on to the stumps at the non-striker’s end to run out Yorkshire captain Gary Ballance, adding: “The Essex lads had a laugh and said it always happens against us but never for us.

“It happened to me before a couple of years ago in New Zealand in a first-class game. There’s a bit of luck involved in it. It’s not a nice way to get out as a batter, but it’s a pleasing way to see the back of a quality player.”

Essex slipped to 6-2 in their second innings, before Nick Browne (53 not out) and Dan Lawrence (75 not out) put on an unbroken 128 for the third wicket.

Wagner said: “Yorkshire bowled pretty well and asked us questions, and those two [Browne and Lawrence] had to fight really hard. It’s an important partnership for us.

“Obviously we don’t want to look too far ahead, we just need to keep working while we’re in control and take it from there. Hopefully if there’s good cloud cover and we can get a good lead, we can do what we did again and keep that pressure on.”